Shanaka Jayasuriya

Shanaka has a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford, where he graduated with First Class Honours. He also holds a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) with Distinction from the University of Oxford.

Shanaka has a diverse practice and accepts briefs in all areas of the law. He has a particular interest in commercial law, regulatory law, and white-collar crime, and has appeared both led and unled in various New South Wales and Federal courts and tribunals. He is valued for his forensic analysis, written skills, and oral advocacy.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Shanaka practiced as a solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in London and Henry Davis York in Sydney and was the tipstaff in the NSW Court of Appeal for Justice McColl AO and the tipstaff in the Supreme Court, Equity Division for Justice Robb.

Shanaka is also admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales.

Harrison Grace

Harrison practices primarily in the areas of commercial law, corporations law, equity, trusts, professional negligence, property, planning and environment law, and public law. A select list of cases in which he has appeared is attached to his CV, which may be downloaded below.

Before coming to the Bar in 2016, Harrison worked in international arbitration in Singapore for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (focusing primarily upon investor-state and treaty disputes), and in Paris for Allen & Overy (on large scale commercial claims).

Harrison was previously Tipstaff to the Honourable Justice R I Barrett of the New South Wales Court of Appeal. He was also a contributor to Robson’s Annotated Corporations Legislation.

Harrison holds a Juris Doctor (Dist) and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons I) from the University of Sydney. He taught Civil and Criminal Procedure at Sydney Law School and worked there as a researcher. He studied on exchange at Sciences Po, Paris and speaks French.

Helena Mann

Helena was admitted to the Bar in 2014 after practising as a solicitor at Herbert Smith Freehills and acting as a Tipstaff and Associate to Justice Slattery in the NSW Supreme Court.

She practices mainly in complex commercial and general equity matters (with particular interest in trust and property disputes). She also utilises her extensive commercial experience to assist on complex commercial prosecutions and is part of the 7^th Floor’s White Collar Crime Team.

Helena is often able to draw on her legal education and experience in both civil and common law jurisdictions to find unique solutions for complex legal issues requiring a broader perspective.

She was born and raised in Poland where she graduated with a Masters of Law from the University of Warsaw and started her legal career. In 2009 she moved to Australia for love and completed a Bachelor of Law (1st Class Hons) at the University of Sydney. She is fluent in Polish and also knows German and Russian.

David Hughes

David appears in complex commercial and corporate disputes. He has acted in significant cases for major corporations in the following fields:
• resources and infrastructure
• telecommunications
• investor class actions
• competition
• construction
David is an author of ‘The Interpretation of Contracts in Australia’ and is often consulted on difficult or significant questions of contractual interpretation.
David also appears in the Federal Courts in judicial review applications.
David also has expertise in private international law, and he is a former legal officer for the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law.

Doyles Guide includes David in the Leading construction and infrastructure junior counsel list for New South Wales 2022.

David was recently included as ‘A leading senior junior counsel specialising in contract and construction disputes. He is extremely knowledgeable and easy to work with. ’
Legal 500 – Asia Pacific

Justin Hogan-Doran SC

Justin Hogan-Doran SC was appointed Senior Counsel in 2020 after 16 years at the NSW and Australian Bar.

Justin is regularly briefed by Australian and International firms and institutions especially in cross-border litigation and arbitration, including Investor-State claims, Shipping and Transport, Infrastructure and international enforcement action. He also acts in complex class action disputes for Australian and international litigation funders. He is also instructed by the Australian Government Solicitor for the Commonwealth of Australia in complex commercial litigation involving the Commonwealth.

In the past 2 years, Justin has acted and is acting:

As counsel for international investors seeking to enforce over US$6 Billion in ICSID Awards against the Kingdom of Spain (including cases currently before the Federal Court, the Full Federal Court and the High Court of Australia – see Kingdom of Spain v Infrastructure Services Luxembourg S.à.r.l. [2021] FCAFC 3 and [2021] FCAFC 112) and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;
As counsel for international hedge fund investors seeking to enforce an UNCITRAL Award against the Republic of India (currently before the Federal Court);
As counsel for litigation-funded group members in the Supreme Court of NSW and NSW Court of Appeal against Scenic Tours (Moore v Scenic Tours Pty Ltd (No.4) [2022] NSWSC 270, now on appeal to NSW Court of Appeal)
As counsel for the Commonwealth of Australia, in the first ever Barnes v Addy claim against the Commonwealth, brought by a litigation funded entity (currently before the Commercial List of the Supreme Court of NSW);
As advisor to a P&I Club in connection with the total loss of the ship, cargo and crew of the MV Gulf Livestock I in the East China Sea, involving claims under Australian, New Zealand and Philippines law;
As advisor to a marine salvage company in connection with the recent rescue and salvage of the MV Portland Bay off the East coast of Australia;
As counsel for the owners in an international arbitration in Sydney concerning faulty design of a commercial fishing vessel (under the ACICA Rules)

He has been recognised in Doyle’s Guide as a leading or recommended counsel in three specialist practice areas – Transport (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), Construction (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) and Arbitration (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022). He has been recognised since 2009 in Best Lawyers^® in Australia in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Shipping & Maritime, and was named ‘Lawyer of the Year’ in Shipping and Maritime 2019’.

Justin also regularly appears in arbitrations in Australia and sits as an arbitrator. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb) and of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration (FACICA).

Justin acts as a mediator on request in specialist and commercial disputes.

Justin was a Councillor and the Treasurer of the NSW Bar Association in 2015.

Prior to the Bar, Justin worked as a Banking & Finance Solicitor at Mallesons Stephen Jaques (now King + Wood Mallesons). He was also a Management Consultant in the Financial Practice area of the Boston Consulting Group in Sydney. His extensive experience in business and finance makes him one of the most commercially minded counsel at the Australian Bar.

Justin is a long-time lecturer at the University of Sydney Law School in Litigation, Equity, Private International Law and Transnational Commercial Litigation (at Humboldt University, Berlin). He was the 1998-2000 Menzies Scholar to Oxford University (BCL/MPhil), where he won the John Morris Prize for Private International Law. He holds a First Class Honours degree in Law from the University of Sydney. In 1996, he was an associate to His Excellency Sir Ninian Stephen at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

Justin is a former officer in the Australian Army. He commenced his military career as a Commando with the 1^st Commando Regiment, and was later a Captain in the Australian Army Legal Corps, with postings to the Military Law Centre and HQ Special Operations.